Dodge (Agility)
A player with the Dodge skill is adept at slipping away from opponents, and is allowed to re-roll the D6 if he fails to dodge out of any of an opposing player’s tackle zones. However, the player may only re-roll one failed Dodge roll per turn. In addition, the Dodge skill, if used, affects the results rolled on the Block dice, as explained in the Blocking rules in the Blood Bowl book.
Overview:
Dodge is one of the more widely chosen skills and quite a few players start with it when purchased. It combines really well with Block and the combination of the two is often referred to as ‘Blodge’. Its uses are two fold, the first and perhaps more obvious benefit is that it allows you to reroll your attempts at dodging with the player without sacrificing a precious reroll. The second benefit is that it makes the player much harder to knock down when being hit by the opposition. Both of these benefits are negated totally by the Tackle skill however. Due to this you can see that is a popular choice for a wide range of players.
Benefits:
- Improved chance of dodge success
- Greater mobility
- Can save using a Reroll
- Harder to be knocked down when hit
Useful to:
As previously mentioned this is a skill that a lot of players will select. Elven players will like the fact that they can dodge away from stronger opposition easier and everyone will appreciate the affect it has when being blocked. If you have a player with dodge and the other team doesn’t have anyone with tackle, they may have problems dealing with your dodge player. The more players you have with Dodge on a team the harder the opposition will find you to deal with unless they have a few players with Tackle. This is why Amazons are a strong starting team and why Dwarfs don’t mind facing lots of Dodge laden players. If you have just one player with Dodge the other team can focus their Tackle players directly on that one target, so this is something to be aware of. Also if your valuable player does have dodge and the opponent can’t get to them with a Tackle player, then they may target a less valuable (but easier to remove) team mate with a blitz, to try and remove them from the pitch instead.
Dodge is great for ball carriers, if the opposition do manage to get a hit on him, without tackle you have a fair chance to remain standing with the ball. Also if they do find themselves stuck holding the ball in tackle zones and you are unable to blitz them free, Dodge comes in useful with helping to get away (assuming the marker hasn’t got tackle). Due to the wide range of players who can be used as a ball carrier I’ll not list them here.
Elves will find Dodge really helpful, as they are often out muscled they really don’t want to end the turn in the tackle zone of the opposition. Having some players with dodge around, especially with AG4, you can free them up in a fairly reliable manner. It is worth looking at the situation at the time before you just start blinding dodging them all out of the opposing tackle zones though. If you can dodge one of your players away, so he can go and assist a team mate for a two dice block, then all the better. The blocks you are aiming to set up should hopefully have a high chance of freeing that team mate up as well (by pusing the opposing player away), this is even more beneficial if that team mate also doesn’t have dodge. You may also get the benefit of injuring the opposing player, gaining SPP and removing them from the pitch. This is a good choice for pretty much any Elf, though AG3 players may want to take it as well (usually will require a doubles roll to aquire), though these players won’t dodge as reliably as an Elf will.
Line of scrimmage players can also make good use of dodge, none of the higher strength players you typcially see set up on the LOS will start with tackle. They are also generally slow to skill up and will take skills such as Block, Guard, Mighty Blow and Stand Firm before they think about taking tackle. They don’t have the movement to go blitzing after fast players with Dodge and the other skills are usually more useful for their role within the team. This means that if you get a doubles roll for your players of this type, Dodge may be worth considering. If you stay on your feet in scrap then you can usually start to turn the tide in your favour.
One important thing to mention with regards to selecting Dodge though, and that is the number of players who have Tackle in your league. If there are a lot of Dwarf/Chaos Dwarf teams, or even any other team that has taken 3 or 4 Tackle skill choices, then you may want to think about picking another skill instead. Dodge however gets better the more of it you have on your team. The more players with Dodge the harder it will be for most teams to neutralise it with their Tackle players. If the league is light on Tackle though, you will not find many better options to select.
